"Spell-Eater" Research - Sontya Reide

The Shaldorei have a special construct unit known as the Chronarch Defender (though I’ve come to start calling it the ‘Spell-Eater’) capable of absorbing magical attacks to store the mana for later use. I’ve only seen the more basic of units, but available texts and plans indicate that the Spell-Eater is capable of discharging the stored mana in a rain of pure arcane energy. Needless to say, its workings have a great deal of potential if it can be properly deconstructed and studied, and of course if its volatile nature can be safely contained. I’m confident that if I can get my hands on the necessary parts, I can discover at least some of the secrets held within these units. If research goes well, it’s possible to make use of the technology for ourselves.Below, I’ve gone more in-depth about the various parts contained within a Spell-Eater.

Stabilizer Cores: Each limb is fitted with one or more cores to regulate the flow of magic within the construct to ensure that power is distributed equally so that nothing loses power and nothing becomes overloaded. Every feed of the smaller stabilizers flows into the larger one contained in its chest, known as the ‘primary stabilizer’, which I will go more in depth to in a moment.It all seems like a tricky balance, but the benefit of it seems to be the fact that the unit has no vulnerable limbs, but rather is comprised solely of metal with magic to anchor it all together.

Primary Stabilizer Core: Perhaps the most potentially volatile part of the construct, the primary stabilizer is the center of all magical flow in the Spell-Eater. Every smaller core feeds into this, as it acts sort of like the ‘heart’ whereas the magic is its blood. When it’s under control, everything is fine, but if there are complications, it could be potentially disastrous. Given how dangerous and even explosive an overload of the primary stabilizer could be, it’s protected with what seems to be a rather powerful warding spell. I’ve tried to cast it myself with no luck so far.

Control Core: This is essentially the “brain” of the construct. All information goes to and from this core just like an organic brain. It controls every function and monitors every reading to ensure that everything stays as it should be, sort of like the ‘supervisor’ to the stabilizer core below it. In a fight, the control core would most likely be a prime target for quick disabling, were it not for the metal shell of the head to protect it.

Optical Processor: This is the eye of the Spell-Eater. Aside from providing physical sight for the construct, it also seems to be equipped with what is referred to in the notes as a ‘true-sight lens’ that allows it to detect magic and see through illusions. From what I can tell, though, all of the shaldorei constructs seem to be equipped with this, so this is not exclusive to the Spell-Eater.

Spellplate Conduits/Mana Gems: These are the most important parts of the Spell-Eater for my research. The armor (known only as ‘spellplate’ in the notes) is enchanted to absorb the mana used in spells which is then transferred for storage into the mana crystals decorating each piece. I’m not very familiar with metals as a subject, but whatever is used here seems to be highly capable of storing the powerful enchantments necessary to perform its task. I’m unsure if other metals or objects could do the same thing, but if tests are successful, it’s something that I intend to look into.

Power Core?: I found a strange issue with the plans that seems to make mention of another core contained in the quadrupedal midsection, but there’s nothing I can find that explicitly states what it could be. My hypothesis is that it is some sort of power core or possibly a back-up unit to something else, but without an intact construct to study, it seems unlikely that I’ll be able to find out in my research, nor am I very sure that it’s necessary.

The Spell-Eater is an extremely interestingly designed creature, especially since it seems to be built in the likeness of the Uldum inhabitants that I’ve seen pictures of. Its functions hold a lot of potential for the Kirin Tor, but in order to make use of it, I will need to requisition multiple spellplate conduits as well as a stabilizer core and, if possible, a control core as well.

Day 1The construct recovered from Suramar seems to be in pretty good shape considering the, umm…. Kind of messy recovery process. I only wish there was an easier way to deactivate it than destroying its brain. Hopefully we don’t lose too much information without it…Anyways, it’s going to be a little while until I can really take it apart to look at it. It ran on high amounts of magical energy and I’ve currently got a lot of mana gems working to drain it right now. I don’t think it’d be very safe to start dismantling otherwise. There were multiple stability cores for a reason, hehe…The, umm… protective ward spell on its chest was actually easier to dispel than I thought it would be, but I’d never be able to do it in the field. It’s a very careful process and I just really couldn’t do it in the heat of combat, so as it stands, it seems like attacking the control core is still the best bet. Who knows what we’ll discover, though?But, umm… Until we get this thing prepped, I won’t know much, sooo… it looks like I need to replace some of the mana gems, so, uhmm… e-end voice... thing.

Day 2With the magic draining, the construct’s pieces are starting to fall apart. It definitely makes the job easier, if a little startling. You never know when enough magic’ll drain to sever the ties holding them together. I’ve managed to pull apart one of the shoulder pieces and the construct we captured seems to be a bit weaker magically compared to the Chronarch Defender model. At least, that’s what it seems like based on the chronarch gem I pulled during another mission. The two gems are similar in make, but the chronarch one seems to be capable of holding a lot more magical power, and it almost seems to… I don’t know… ‘flow’ better than the other. I guess that’s so it can more efficiently absorb and expel the man-AHH!”<The sounds of heavy metal could be heard crashing against the floor along with Sontya’s high-pitched shriek of horror. For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the young mage trying to catch her breath.>O-Okay, whew!... That, uhhhh…. That’s what I meant when I mentioned the pieces falling apart, heheh…I need to go, umm… get some air for a minute so, uh… end voice thing.

Day 3Hello! So, umm… the construct is finally drained of its volatile energy, so while there’s still a lot of dormant magic contained in each part, it’s at least no longer going to be an explosion hazard, hehe… Which is good, because I was getting kind of drained trying to keep the room warded just in case. Though, umm… anyways, there’s not too much to cover in this log. I’ve only just recently brought the pieces up to the workshop in my apartment, and the day’s already mostly gone. Light, even with all of the new research material, I have no idea how to fill all of this space… This one room is bigger than my whole house back in Westfall…But… sorry, back on track. The primary stabilizer core was kind of interesting to see. This was something that I think I forgot to mention in my last log. It actually shrunk considerably in size with the magic drained. It was a massive orb around a foot or two in diameter and the last I saw it, it’s just barely humming with energy somewhere around ten inches. I don’t really know what to make of that, except maybe the idea that the protective ward was designed to also limit how large the core could expand. I can only imagine it would grow larger if more mana was forced into it.That’s about it for today, though. Hopefully I’ll know more tomorrow, but I’ll probably have to review my notes beforehand. And /apparentlyyy/, it seems like I’ve been ending these kind of wrong, so, ummm… ‘end recording’.<A little more distant> Did that work? Cinders, why’s it still glowing like tha- oh, nuts… *sigh*

Day 4Heyyyy. So, uhmmm… Progress has been really slow so far. I haven’t been able to figure out much that’s very noteworthy so far. None of the spell patterns used in this model of construct seem to line up perfectly with what’s detailed in the Chronarch Defender design, so it’s taking some work to get everything, umm… lined up.I’ve mostly been starting by trying to dissect the mana gem to see what it’s made out of, or even just how it compares to other types of gems in terms of capabilities. I used some of the budget to order all kinds, as well as some things salvaged from Suramar. I’ve only got a couple so far, but none of them compare with what the Nightborne are able to create. Hopefully we can figure that out, but I imagine that’s well beyond what I know as an apprentice… I’ll review my enchanting texts later tonight and hopefully have a better idea of what I’m doing.End recording.

Day 5<In a bit of a mumble> Well… I found out the limit of how much magic the Chronarch gem can hold... And the effects of what it’ll do when overflowed. I /assumed/ that it either wouldn’t accept the load, or it might just seep out like a flooded bucket, but apparently once it reaches its limit, it still tries to hold it, which results in more of the magic bursting out unexpectedly… Kind of like when I try to wear a top with buttons…Light, I shouldn’t say that. How do I cut things out?So, umm.. the magic doesn’t exactly overflow, but rather overcharges, which results in a rather… violent explosion. Thankfully, this was just a small one. Nothing was damaged and I just got knocked off of my stool, mostly. I did hit my head, but it could’ve been worse…*sigh* Anyways… I might put a brief pause on my research to look over everything again. I’d like to find something to safely limit the amount of energy stored, otherwise it could be too dangerous to utilize ourselves. Maybe I could try to recreate the spell used on the primary stabilizer. I don’t know…<She sighed again, this one more exasperated and drawn out.> I need a break… I miss my fiancée.… End recording.

Sontya: "Transmission start." She began in a formal tone, stepping to the side to better view Li's work, "We're beginning testing by enchanting various metals and, umm... whatever else we might be able to think of. If all goes well, I may even test it on one of my wards. But, umm... First test: Leystone. It should be the easiest as it seems to be what the Nightborne use in their constructs in the first place."While she waited for Li Xing to perform the enchantment, she spoke quietly into the recorder, "This enchantment, if successful, should allow the leystone to absorb magic that strikes it and funnel it into the connected vessel, which in this case is a mana gem pulled straight from the construct. As we see success, we'll try more varied and far out pairings." After some time, the girl's eyes widened at the glow. "Th-The, umm... enchantment /appears/ to have been a success, at least from a purely visual standpoint. It's definitely farther than I've ever gotten..." Sontya cleared her throat and watched the test go on. "Hmmm... I don't know, it seems a little weak, but I think it's working, right?"

Li Xing: "It was a partial success. It works on unaltered leystone fine, but the metal is missing certain alterations that must be unique to the enchantment itself-- applied to the metal to prime it for the enchantment and insure its integrity and effectiveness, I imagine. The absorption on this sample is roughly on par with a few lesser mage armor spells that transmute spells striking the caster into usable mana."

Sontya: "I see... So that probably doesn't bode well for the other metals, huh? I mean... unless we can figure out what method was used to prime the leystone and see if it can be applied to other metals, but that might be out of my skill level... On the plus side, it should work just fine for the construct piece, right? Should we begin test number two?"

Li Xing: "Test number two with the disenchanted construct component.”

Sontya: "Test two: 'Prepared' leystone, construct plating. Seems promising, at least." With that, she went silent to observe the enchantment, leaving a few minutes of dead air save for Li Xing's murmuring.

Li Xing: "Ah! That worked much better, didn't it? I imagine a perfect replication of the Nightborne's enchanting process is far from me still, but this does mean that there is some transmutive alteration applied to the metal before it's enchanted."

Sontya: "Oh, wow! Yeah, it umm... looks like it worked almost perfectly! Wow, that was easier than expected. That is kind of a downside, though, huh? Now we have to figure out what the primer is before we can really make use of it. I'll have to go back in my notes to try and dig around for it. Meanwhile, I think I'll bring over more construct pieces to perfect the enchanting process. Until then, it seems like we're at a stopping point on progress, but this has still been a great breakthrough!"

Li Xing: "Do you want to proceed from here with the other samples, or wait until a later time? If I have more time to study your notes and enchantments, and inspect the differences between the unaltered leystone and construct armor, I can come up with a few theories to test."

Sontya: "Ummm... I think we'll take what we've got here and wait until we can figure out the primer before testing it on other metals. It would probably just be wasted effort otherwise, right? Oh, umm... E-End transmission."

Day 36 (Written Report)I’ve finally cracked the code on the leystone primer! Nine out of ten tests returned a successful bonding of the enchantment with the one failure being a small fault on my part. Regardless, this problem is solved and I can begin testing and adapting it to other metals and materials as soon as I’ve recorded the method of priming. I’ve been working on applying this enchantment to one of my wards with mild success, and it got me thinking about other applications. I’ve acquired resources and texts about artificing and I’m going to try putting what I’ve been learning into building constructs of our own. It could take a little while to learn, but I’ll start small and go from there.

Day 45 (Written Report)The Legion’s assault on Dalaran and the new efforts at the Broken Shore are really starting to put pressure on things. I’m working around the clock on my research these days in the hopes that I’ll have something to help in the fight. With how the threat is right on our doorstep, I just pray that it will be of any use. To that end, I’ve been adapting the ward enchantments to absorb fel energy more specifically than general magic, and it seems to be working okay enough. I’ve put together a demonstration construct by carefully studying both the Kirin Tor construct designs as well as the information we’ve gotten from Suramar now that it’s been reclaimed. It needs a little more teaching to know how to utilize its abilities, and right now needs to be manually instructed to expel the magic build-up, but it’s amazing progress in such a short time. This breed of construct is only a demo, so I haven’t come up with any good names for it. I’ve nicknamed it Shelly.